Tom's IM Texas 2018 Race Results - Kona Bound!
Tom’s IM Texas 2018. Sub 10 and off to Kona!
Some thoughts – race report to follow.
What a day! Superfast bike course and a race to the finish.
To start, the weather was perfect, probably the best in the 8 years of racing the course. Moderate temperatures, low humidity, very little wind in the morning. Don’t expect that again in the near future!
Swim – my swim lessons have been paying off. First time under 1:10. I actually finished 17th in my AG. I’m usually at the midpoint or way lower. Swam according to plan. Lined up with the 1:10 group, swam to the outside and didn’t touch anyone for the duration of the swim.
Bike. The course is run mostly on a rented freeway. From transition, it’s 10+ miles of admin to the highway, then 20 miles up, flip, 20 miles back, flip and repeat then back to transition. The highway roads are in great condition, the other part, not so much. Last year the winds were pretty strong from mile 80 all the way home, into your face. Draining and demoralizing. This year the winds were light and at your back from 80 all the way home. Pushing all the way and feeling great.
One of the things I noticed early on was large packs of riders and not a race Marshall in sight. I was mostly by myself passing people for the first 60 miles. When I flipped my bike at the turn I was shocked to find 50 guys about 20 yards back all in a tight formation seriously drafting off each other. I pushed hard to stay ahead of them. A short while later I was sitting up to fuel as I was heading up an overpass and they swallowed me up. It was incredible. It wasn’t as if they were just all stuck together. It was obvious they were all intentionally drafting. I pushed hard to get ahead of them again. I chatted with another guy that had gone back and forth with me for the last 10 miles or so and we were both “WTF?”. Over the course of the last 50 miles the pack caught me 3 or 4 more times. One time I told a guy, you guys are cheating, this is a total draft fest. He gave me the middle finger and I pushed on J People passing in the opposite direction often screamed out “cheaters” as they rolled past. I made a strategic decision to stay ahead of the pack, not wanting to be part of it or wanting to get behind it. As a result, I ended up off race plan, which is typically to push for as long as I can and then fade. No fading this time! I was pretty concerned I was going to have a tough run. At the end I felt great and was thrilled with going sub 5, my fastest ever.
The Run. I decided to start off with a comfortable IM shuffle, knowing that my bike may come back to haunt me at mile 15 or so. My watch said 8:15 miles and that was good enough. Race pace strategy, same as the bike, start strong and fade.
My race Sherpas are best in class! My now 16 year-old son used to handle 4 or 5 phones, tracking me and all my competitors, doing all the calculations in his head of where I was and what I needed to be aware of. The new app has taken much of the headache out of his work! Lots of family cheering. The first time I see them I get a “Go Dad!”. What the heck? I’m expecting split times, competitor data, etc. I’m thinking, maybe I’m pretty far back, and wonder what they are thinking. This goes on for a long time, as I see them twice on each of the three loops. No data. I’m thinking, fun day, fast times, lucky to get top 10. Then at mile 23 or so my wife screams at me “pick it up, you’re in contention!” I started moving as fast as I could go. I had been passing people, but now there were lots of people I was rolling past very quickly. 200 yards from the finish line I see my family again and I go to give them all high fives. Everyone screams to keep moving, run as fast as I can. With no 55 year-olds around me I wonder what they are thinking but do as I was told. With rolling starts you really don’t know your time and it wasn’t until I crossed the line that they told me I had broken 10 hours by 5 seconds. Super cool. 3rd place AG. Oldest guy to break 10 – that’s my fun fact for a long time to come!
I will always be thankful to Ricardo. Stephen, not so much. Ricardo was ahead of me and then dropped off the radar screen at mile 25.5 of the run. Totally weird. An hour later he reappears on the app showing 14th. Technical glitch? Lying in the ditch near the end? I checked the app in the morning and I was still 3rd, he was 14th. I’m at the awards ceremony and they ask AG winners to gather at the side of the stage. I’m hanging with 2 others in my AG chatting about the race and someone comes by, asks our position and gives us our trophies. I take my 3rd place plaque. A minute later Stephen strolls up and says he is in 3rd when asked what spot he was in. I’m surprised but think this is the Ricardo guy and hand him my trophy. The official list guy comes over and says Stephen is 3rd, I’m 4th. Turns out they didn’t record his age, so he won the AG zero on the app. When it gets figured out, of course he is in my AG and he’s faster. Someone tells me there are 4 spots to Kona in my group but I’m no longer confident. The 5th place guy was bummed because Stephen dropped him off the podium to 6th and the 4th place guy misses the slot as no one lets it roll. 45 minutes later I officially get the spot and there all high fives from the kids – another Kona vacation.
Comments
@Tom Glynn
Sincere congratulations on earning another trip to the BIG island!
SS
IMTX go to guy .... Congratulations and Condolences for getting to race
KONA again.... Hope you enjoy the pain and the family enjoys paradise :-)
Staying in the game as well and as long as you have is pretty dang hard to do, cherish it.